Welcome to my stop on the Blog Tour for The Summer of Second Chances by Maddie Please!!! This book looks so gorgeous and I'm really excited to have a special post from Maddie!!
Guest Post from Maddie Please
The Joy of Building.
The second thing we wanted to do in our new home was knock a wall down. Not just for the fun of it but because we wanted to change two small rooms (kitchen, dining room) into one.
That sounds easy doesn’t it? Knock a wall down. Ha! The work of a moment! Lend me a sledgehammer and I will be done by the weekend.
Not so.
The builders started work at the beginning of March to create a dustproof door between the kitchen and the rest of the house.
(FYI - there is no such thing as a dustproof door. It’s a decoration)
A couple of days later the first of 6 skips arrived. Plus a blue portaloo, which looked as though the Tardis had set down outside our house. #discreet?
The builders were a jolly bunch who liked Cadbury’s Mini Rolls, tea, and Fox’s Chocolate biscuits. They didn’t like Wagon Wheels or custard creams. No I don’t know why either.
Luckily we had the garden office in which to hide during working hours because there was a great deal of dust, noise and general awfulness.
The first couple of weeks were devoted to destruction. Not only was there a wall to be demolished but also the chimneybreast above it. The dust was appalling.
To start off I dusted and hoovered every day. By the end of the building process it was unusual if I dusted and hoovered at all. Within minutes of doing so a new layer of brick dust would settle, sneaking through closed doors, plastic screens and layering a generous amount on the stairs. How we laughed.
But better by far was the chaos that ensued regarding the catering.
We had a microwave and a kettle.
(We did have a single camping ring for a while but that broke)
Therefore we were at the mercy of microwave meals or the pub.
Yes I know there were probably other things we could have done but we didn’t.
In fact the only other thing we tried were Pot Noodles. I have to admit they are on the one hand unpleasant and probably bad for you but they are also somehow strangely addictive especially the one called Bombay Bad Boy.
(Bombay? Bad Boy? Really? It leaves your mouth numb and orange, but hey who cares? It’s only 20% salt and 40% fat.)
Huge holes were dug in the garden to allow for the new drains. Then the electricians and the plumbers moved in, leaving new holes all over the walls and ceilings during one of the coldest weeks of the spring. Bouquets of electrical cable sprouted all over the place. Our only defence against the rain or any burglar foolish enough to break in was a wall of plastic sheeting held together with blue duct tape. To watch TV my husband and I were reduced to huddling on the other side of the not-dust-proof door, wrapped in a bedspread.
Then the plasterers turned up to work their magic followed by the kitchen fitters.
Our son James is a kitchen designer for Benchmarx so this was of course the time for many agonised emails and texts and much angst whether they would fit the right doors on the right cupboards. (They did – eventually)
There was an almighty panic at this point because the granite man needed to come and template the granite on a specific day so it could be fitted10 days later.
(The granite man was with us for such a long time that we were tempted to make up a bed and ask him what he wanted for breakfast.)
But I digress.
On 21st June the last builders sadly left, having consumed approximately 750 Chocolate Mini Rolls, three large boxes of Fox’s biscuits, sundry bags of cookies and doughnuts, 23 gallons of tea and two bacon and egg rolls (made by me in a moment of utter weakness when 2 of them turned up hungover, spaniel-eyed and hungry)
The end result was marvellous.
Was it worth it? Yes.
Would I do it again?
Yes!
Thank you so much for stopping by Maddie!!!!
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